my recent reads..

LEAP#001 basics of 7-segment LED control

Going back to basics - this project is a test of directly driving a common cathode 7-segment LED with an Arduino. It covers the fundamentals behind more advanced circuits like this custom PCB with register interface.

As always, all notes, schematics and code are in the Little Arduino Projects repo on GitHub.


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LEAP#178 making a 7-segment LED PCB

My version of the second project from the KiCad like a Pro course (the first was an nRF24 breakout board).

The board combines a common-cathode 7-segment display with a shift register and current-limiting resistors. Nothing earth-shattering, but a good little KiCad exercise. I recently got the boards back from OSH Park, and they work just fine!

As always, all notes, schematics and code (including the KiCad project) are in the Little Arduino Projects repo on GitHub.


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LEAP#188 read/write AT24C02 external EEPROM

The AT24C02 is from Atmel's line of serial EEPROM chips with a whopping capacity of 2K! (256 x 8) That's not a whole lot more than the onboard EEPROM in an Arduino, but it does have the advantage of being external:

  • it can stay in-situ even if the microcontroller disappears/gets exchanged
  • multiple devices can share access
There are a few libraries available that encapsulate the interaction with external EEPROMs, but first step is a simple test of the basic read and write capability using the basic Wire library. Surprise, it just works (as long as you get your bits and bytes ordered correctly).

As always, all notes, schematics and code are in the Little Arduino Projects repo on GitHub.


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LEAP#187 nRF24L01+ Ping Pong

So now I have my nRF24 breakout boards back from OSH Park, time to try them out.

This is a simple script that runs on two Arduinos. They bounce messages back and forth over 2.4GHz using the nRF24L01+ modules, flashing their LEDs when messages successfully handled. Sweet, and the breakout boards work just fine.

As always, all notes, schematics and code are in the Little Arduino Projects repo on GitHub.


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